Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a find, 30 April 2003
Somehow I missed out on Dianne Wynne Jones as a child, and only discovered her books because my 12 year old son had exhausted all possible JK Rowling titles and needed something similar - since then we have tracked down every lkast book she has written. I really enjoy her adult knowingness and the sense of the bizarre but peculiar world which exists beneath the surface of apparent normality. Great Stuff.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Evil "Maria", 31 Dec 2005
Everyone has one -- an older relative who disapproves of you unless you do what she wishes, and isn't nearly as nice as she pretends to be.
But "Aunt Maria" turns out to be even worse than your average relative, in this engaging, humourous and chilling fantasy novel. Diana Wynne-Jones spins a fantastical story of witchcraft and revenge, all centering on the elderly lady who sweetly lords it over Cranbury-on-Sea.
After her father is apparently killed in a car accident, Mig and her family go to stay with Aunt Maria, mainly because her mother feels guilty. Aunt Maria is very prim and very sweet, and makes a point of guilting people into doing what she wants. Life revolves around Aunt Maria's tea parties, and the men and children act like automatons.
Mig and her brother Chris hate it there, despite the sad ghost who appears in Chris's room. But they start to suspect that magic may be at work, and that Aunt Maria may be at the center of it. When Chris annoys her, she transforms him into a wolf. Now Mig must uncover a magical plot that stretches back over the decades -- and is the key to dethroning Aunt Maria.
It's hard enough to deal with such elderly, sickly-sweet relatives if they are normal. Imagine if they are cold-hearted witches, who turn their own daughters into wolves. And if Diana Wynne-Jones was trying to make people feel lucky for not having an Aunt Maria, then she succeeds beautifully.
Jones paints a chilling picture of Cranbury -- sort of a "Stepford Wives" situation, except it's Stepford Husbands and Kids, all slaves to the stifling sweetness of Aunt Maria. The one weak spot is the ending -- it's not a terribly bad ending, but it is kind of weak, especially compared to the quiet menace of the past several chapters.
Mig is a likable character, although her rebellious brother Chris comes across as the more engaging of the main characters, and readers might want to kick her meek, submissive mother. Aunt Maria is the most frighteningly real, from her outdated opinions to her pushy sweetness; she's horrified at girls wearing pants, eating fish'n'chips for dinner, and favors boys over girls. Even worse, she genuinely believes that she is a wonderful person.
Take the most irritating old lady imaginable... and give her evil magic powers. That's the chilling picture painted in "Aunt Maria," which will make readers intensely grateful that they aren't Chris and Mig.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing!, 19 Jul 2005
I'm 16 now, and I think I got this book when I was about twelve, and I love it as much now as I did then. I can't say exactly what it is that makes it such a good book, but its well written, and the plot is perfect. My favourite character is Chris, and I think the character of Aunt Maria is so good because she's so original. While the book deals with lots of unbelievable things, it is still really believable, with the perfect balance between things the reader can relate to, which are very normal (for example, Mig's crush on her brother's friend, her parents' divorce) and the very abnormal (the time travelling- which incidentally sounds ridiculous but is written so well that is works- and people turning into animals) The narrative voice is very good, and carries the reader along. All in all, a really good book, which I think can be enjoyed at any age
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